‘Big decisions’ on future of Covid tech

eHealthNews.nz: National Systems & Strategy

Monday, 28 November 2022

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NEWS - eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth

Te Whatu Ora - Health New Zealand is assessing the future of more than 110 systems built as part of the Covid response, as well as embedding learnings on how solutions are developed and delivered.

Budget 2022 allocated $125 million to provide ongoing funding to retain selected capability and infrastructure developed in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and to provide a basis for future population health and disease management digital capability.

Te Pae Tata the Interim New Zealand Health Plan, made a recommendation to “scale and adapt population health digital services developed to support the COVID-19 response to serve other key population health priorities.”

Michael Dreyer, group manager national digital services and chief technology officer, Te Whatu Ora, is presenting at Digital Health Week 2022 and says there are big decisions to be made regarding the technology developed as part of the Covid response.

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An initial assessment suggests that they fall into three broad categories.

One group, making up over a third of all the systems, will either be stood down now or retained while the health system is still dealing with Covid-19 and will then be retired.

Another is strategically important and has an ongoing role in the technology landscape, “but as is the way with technology may need to be replaced or rebuilt within 3-5 years,” he says.

The last group encompasses systems that have been built to a high standard and fulfil important functions going forward, either in terms of broader communicable disease and pandemic management or general utility across the health sector.

“In the communicable disease management area, we are extending the Covid capabilities to cover all diseases, including contact tracing, testing, how we use intelligence and surveillance data, and how we engage with customers during a pandemic,” Dreyer says.

The National Contact Tracing Solution (NCTS) has already been expanded to cover measles.

“We will be retaining some of the health systems at the border, and are working collaboratively with a number of other government border agencies to understand how these will fit in with their systems and processes,” he explains.

“There's also a retention story around the way some of the services were designed, as we moved to a model where we were communicating more directly to consumers through multiple channels.”

The use of consumer ‘self-serve’ options, developed during the pandemic, grew beyond what had been expected.
Dreyer says it is important to reassess and develop those with equity and accessibility in front of mind.

“We know from our Covid experience, that digital models that were well designed and supported by assisted channels (phone and email support), were key to taking pressure off frontline staff and reaching into communities,” he explains.

My Health Account is a consumer digital identity service for New Zealanders to engage securely with Covid services online, and there is an opportunity to extend it to support other self-service models in health and beyond.

Dreyer says the Covid response had a significant impact on how data and digital health services deliver solutions, by taking a more agile approach, and leveraging the cloud and use of platforms.

It also put a strong focus on service design for both providers and consumers and engaging end users in that process.

A system called Chipper allows Te Whatu Ora to identify New Zealanders either as individuals or in groups of cohorts, and run consumer engagement campaigns via text, email, letters, and phone calls to engage and remind them about things like screening programs.

For those without access to digital services, a new model enabled people to do things such as make a booking or submit a test result, ‘on behalf of’ someone else in their family, whānau or community.

“That was a really powerful enabler because up to 20 percent of all engagements were done on behalf of someone else, so the digital tools were reaching a broader audience than only those who had access to digital services,” explains Dreyer.

The Covid Immunisation Consumer Support (CICS) platform supported the assisted channel by allowing call centre agents to deliver a range of transactions such as issuing vaccine passes, booking vaccinations and submitting test results for people who needed help.

The CICS tool is also going to be retained and developed as a strategic asset to support the digital consumer channel.